This invention relates to power-driven floor buffing machines of the type shown in my U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,977,421, 4,069,538, and 4,155,138.
Professional floor buffing machines are normally supported on a pair of wheels and the buffing pad extends in front of the wheels while an operating handle extends from behind them. During buffing three parts of the buffer are in contact with the floor, namely, each of the wheels and the buffing pad. The buffing pad is driven by a motor and it is mounted on a vertical shaft that is coupled either directly to the motor or to a pulley that is driven by the motor.
In the past, as buffing pads wore the chassis on which the wheels and the buffing pad support are mounted would not be horizontal and only an edge of the buffing pad would contact the floor instead of the full face of the buffing pad. Devices that are the subject of my above-noted prior patents overcame that difficulty by mounting the buffing pad on a yolk-like element that was pivoted on an axis that was parallel to the axis on which the wheels rotated whereby, as the buffing pad wore down and the front of the device tipped toward the floor, the buffing pad could pivot on that axis and still provide a full-face engagement with the floor being buffed.
With the arrangement described above, as the buffing pad wore out the pulley driving the buffing pad and the pulley acting as a power take off from the motor became out of alignment, specifically, they were no longer in the same plane. As a result belt wear increased and it became necessary to change the belt between the power take off from the motor and the buffing pad drive system more frequently. Changing a belt requires removing the pad support member from the chassis, changing the belt, and then fixing the pad support member back on the chassis. Although not a difficult job, it does require down time and aligning cumbersome parts, such as the chassis and the pad support member to reassemble them.